The sport of Archery has been in existence for hundreds of years used as a means of hunting fish and game and as a form of recreation. In all instances it is advantageous to not only hit the intended target but to hit the intended target in the desired location taking into account the effects of gravity and the individual archers equipment preference and shooting style. Thus devices for aiding and improving accuracy are continually being sought. Some archers are proficient through "instinctive" shooting and do not require sight aids of any type. The great majority of archers, however, rely on sight aids of some type to hit the desired location on the intended target.
The prior art shows various bow sights of two main varieties. One variety is of the type taught by Johnson U.S. Pat. No. #4,846,141 that uses multiple fixed sight pins or other indices extending horizontally from the bow sight in such a manner so that the sight "beads" or aiming points are spaced in a substantially vertical alignment to denote various distances to the target from the archer.
It is very easy to become confused with this arrangement as a result of a condition commonly referred to as "pin clutter" whereby all sight beads or aiming points are contained within the sight window of the bow at the same time. The archer sees all the sight elements when attempting to aim. The Archer must carefully distinguish and use the correct sight element for the estimated distance from the apparent group of sight elements when releasing the arrow. This problem is enhanced with the current innovations in archery equipment that allow a flatter trajectory and thus require closer and closer alignment of the sight beads in relation to each other.
It is very easy for the archer to use the wrong sight element when aiming at the intended target and miss by a wide margin as a result.
Another condition commonly referred to as "target panic" is easily experienced when all sight pins are in the target window at the same time. This condition causes the archer to unwillingly tense up, flinch, jerk or prematurely release the arrow before the correct sight element is utilized because of the close proximity of any of the adjacent sight elements to the target. As a result the archer misses the intended target by a wide margin. This problem is also enhanced by the new innovations in archery equipment that allow a flatter trajectory and thus require closer and closer alignment of the sight beads in relation to each other.
This variety of bow sight allows for individual and independent adjustment for windage and distance for each of the sight elements contained by the bow sight and thus allows for tilting or canting the bow according to the individual archers shooting style. This type of sight is usually defined as fixed pin sight when shooting competitively.
The other common variety of bow sight is of the type of a single pin as shown in Keller U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,123 and Reynolds U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,474. A single sight element is more accurate because there is no confusion between sight elements or in the selection of the correct pin to use as the proper sight element. These patents teach movement of a single pin in some manner to account for different distances to the target. These sights depend on the archer to hold the bow and thus the bow sight in a exact 90 degree position in order for the windage to remain constant as the distance changes. Any tilting or canting of the bow from the exact 90 degree position will necessarily cause the windage to be incorrect as the distance adjustment is made and will cause the order to miss the intended target.
These sights require that the archer devote most of his attention and efforts to setting the correct yardage on the bow sight for each and every distance because of the very fine adjustments on a graduated scale and away from the intended target. The precision required in making the distance adjustment is relatively time consuming especially when used for hunting fish and game.
This type of sight is generally defined as infinitely adjustable and generally requires the archer to be in the more competitive class when shooting in archery competition.